The Wrestling Genius: You Will Be Missed

This article was very difficult for me to write, and if it seems like the rambling of a lost fan, well it is. Its so hard to put into words the impact a guy like Macho Man Randy Savage had on us as fans. So, this isn’t a column that will even attempt to encompass his career, but more of my personal feelings of a legend who passed before his time.

Nacho Man Randy Sandwich, that’s what a four-year-old future-wrestling genius would call his favorite wrestler. I was so little I had trouble understanding what they were calling him for a while, but all I knew was he was the flashiest, the brightest, and the loudest of all the stars. I was only a little kid during his brightest moments, but those moments stuck with me my entire life. I had a stuffed Macho Man novelty toy that I would constantly wrestle. I have on record said that the greatest in ring performer was Shawn Michaels, but that’s for an entire career. If I could take just one wrestler from history, from one year, for one match that I would use to show forever to anyone who wanted to become a wrestler I’d use 1987 Macho Man Randy Savage. No one had a more perfect blend of personality, grace, power, or finesse. No one dropped a more perfect elbow, no one gave a more interesting promo, and it truly is saddening to see him go.

Randy Savage was the coolest wrestler who ever lived. There is no other word that describes him, everything he did was cool, from the outlandish outfits, to his crazy out there promos, just everything about him said star. Very few guys transcend the business to the point that all you have to say is part of their name and even none wrestling fans know who you’re talking about. Macho Man was one of those few, he was bigger than the industry that made him a star. As cliché as it sounds, he truly was a poet in the ring, very few could do what he did, and do it so elegantly. He made a brutal sport seem graceful and beautiful. I never cared if he was a heel or a face, I always rooted for Macho Man, there was just something about him that drew all of us to him. I don’t have a single wrestling friend that didn’t love Macho Man, not a one. When the news broke that he had died I got several emails and texts from people who said things, ranging from “The most beautiful elbow drop ever” to, “the greatest promo guy to ever live”, to “there will be a hundred Hogans before there is another Macho Man”. All of those things are true, and all I hope is he realizes he meant so much too so many.

He’s been out of the public eye for the better part of a decade, but that doesn’t matter. In so many forms of entertainment, stars are chewed up, spit out, and forgotten. Not wrestlers, wrestling fans keep the truly great ones with us as long as we live, we never forget what these guys did for us. We appreciate the ones that put it all on the line for our enjoyment, and Macho Man put everything out there for us. His on air marriage to Miss Elizabeth was something so many people will remember forever, and that’s saying something considering this is wrestling, but to wrestling fans that was our royal wedding. That was our Prince Charles marrying Diana. That just goes to show we as fans actually cared about them, we wanted them to be happy, you really don’t see that kind of emotional investment anymore. Weddings like that don’t work post attitude era, we’ve become too cynical, we’ve become too ‘cool’ for something like a wedding to keep our attention for more than two seconds. Macho Man was a one of a kind performer who had us riveted whether he was dropping an elbow off the top rope or putting a wedding ring on Miss Elizabeth.

Macho Man wasn’t a hero, he wasn’t a saint, he was just an amazing athlete that put his almost super human athleticism to work in the wrestling ring. Macho Man easily could have been a football star, he was just a natural athlete that could do things other humans could only dream of. That is not what made him so unforgettable and great. It was his ability to turn that raw athleticism into a thing of true poetic beauty in the ring that separated him from so many. His promos will never be touched, in originality, humor, or intensity.

I know I didn’t say anything anyone else hasn’t already said this weekend, but I would have kicked myself if I hadn’t put my thoughts on paper, or in this case computer text, on one of the truly greatest wrestlers that ever lived. You will be missed Randy, you will be missed.

I’ll leave you with my all time favorite Macho Man quote:
“Hulkamania is like a single grain of sand in the Sahara desert that is Macho Madness.”

Thanks again for reading and if you want to get in contact with me you can do so by emailing me here: jjg672@hotmail.com or you can bug me via twitter @JaredGebhardt. As always, I try to get to every single email and tweet I get.